"Judge Brigham" Rambow cue

jaetee

jaetee

rack master ;)
Silver Member
E.H. Brigham. I don't know if this guy was an actual Judge or if that was just his nickname, but he had good taste in pool cues! This thing still hits fantastic!

The cue weighs 19.8 oz and is 56 3/4" long with the shaft that has the initials on it. 12.8mm tip. The other two shafts are a little longer and have very different tip sizes, The fat tip is 13.6mm and the thin one is 11.4mm.

This is one cool piece of pool history!

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From what I gather it was not uncommon for Brunswick to engrave the name in the but and initials on the shafts just like you see in your cue.

Those alone dont make it a "Rambo"

Do you know it's history?
 
Skins ~ I was skeptical at first, as well. Maybe I should have put a question mark at the end of the thread title...

Unfortunately, I don't have any history on the cue, but if you look underneath the "B" in the last name, you'll see what looks like the top of another letter. To me it looks like there might have been another row of calligraphy, and I don't think it takes much imagination to interpret that upper portion as the top of a captial "R." Bummer that's not complete.

Another thing is that, the overwhelming majority of Brunswick Professional two piece cues I've seen from that timeframe either had one of those oval stickers on the butt, or at least some remnants thereof. Then again, that could have been removed and refinished at any point in it's past.

Still... I think more things point to this being a Rambow than a standard Brunswick.
 
jaetee said:
Skins ~ I was skeptical at first, as well. Maybe I should have put a question mark at the end of the thread title...

Unfortunately, I don't have any history on the cue, but if you look underneath the "B" in the last name, you'll see what looks like the top of another letter. To me it looks like there might have been another row of calligraphy, and I don't think it takes much imagination to interpret that upper portion as the top of a captial "R." Bummer that's not complete.

Another thing is that, the overwhelming majority of Brunswick Professional two piece cues I've seen from that timeframe either had one of those oval stickers on the butt, or at least some remnants thereof. Then again, that could have been removed and refinished at any point in it's past.

Still... I think more things point to this being a Rambow than a standard Brunswick.
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Like i said, the engraving is common with both Rambo AND early Brunswick.. If you do some more research I'm sure you'll get a better idea whether it was indeed made by Rambo... Good luck!
 
One thing that may say Brunswick is the joint pin... Your pin is pointed at the end. All Rambo's I've seen are rounded off. I heard that may be one way to tell if it's a Brunswick. Maybe an expert will chime in..
 
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gunzby said:
I looked up the name and there was a Doctor E.H. Brigham
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I have been researching this as well... After trying multiple different searches using "judge" "Brigham" and "E.H.Brigham" I also found a Judge named Brigham from New Mexico. However, I also found reference to a "Judge Brigham" in DOMESTIC ENGINEERING, a plumbing & heating trade magazine published in Chicago, dated October 1915. Looking at the text on pg.84, I think I may have found reference to where this guy EH Brigham from Kalamazoo was given the nickname/title "Judge" for the way he presided over an automobile pageant during a Prosperity Week event. Sounds like the type of nickname someone might proudly use in a pool hall and I'm starting to think this might be the guy.

I also found an E.H. Brigham who lived in Largo. FL and would be 114 years old if he were still alive. There were two phone numbers listed for the guy, which I have confirmed are reassigned. And if I can figure out somehow if the Largo EHB moved down here from the Kalamazoo area at some point, I'm thinking that was probably the original owner of the cue...

Interesting stuff!

URL : https://books.google.com/books?id=g...AJ#v=onepage&q=judge Brigham presided&f=false

Excerpt of pg.84:

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I have been poking around as well.

Can we please know where the cue can be last traced to? Where was it found? What state or city?

Might help.




.
 
skins said:
One thing that may say Brunswick is the joint pin... Your pin is pointed at the end. All Rambo's I've seen are rounded off. I heard that may be one way to tell if it's a Brunswick. Maybe an expert will chime in..
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Personally, I'm more skeptical of the missing ivory or white Hoppe ring, Most of the Rambows do seem to have rounded joint pins, but I've seen what are supposedly authentic Rambow cues with both styles.

Here's just one example I found of one which has a pointier pin: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Excellent-V...1i%2FqWymZVBfWsUqAINM%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

I've also seen a couple of different versions of the "squigglies" on either side of the name as well.

The additional trace of calligraphy under the B is what is pushing my opinion over the top to say it's a Rambow. It's not a mark or crack in the wood, it's definitely pencil.

Personally, I think maybe the cue got refinished at some point in it's past. And whoever did the work took care to keep the owner's name intact, but was obviously not concerned about keeping the second line intact. Guessing that the refinish probably happened at a time before Rambow's name was considered collectible.
 
It's looks like someone ordered a Brunswick Willie Hoppe signature cue, and paid the
extra $$ to have his name flourished on.
Rambow could of made it. but he never did the actual signing anyway., his handwriting
was probably like mine.

I thought that Rambow and Willie had an agreement that they wouldn't get the
signature cues mixed up like that, so Herman could of made that one.
Paul Rubino should take a look at it, if he is still doing the authentications.

Also, it could of been made by Brunswick after 1950
 
Chopdoc said:
I have been poking around as well.

Can we please know where the cue can be last traced to? Where was it found? What state or city?

Might help.
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The cue was found on the bottom shelf of a display case, behind the counter of a pawn shop in Palm Harbor, Florida.
 
cuesblues said:
It's looks like someone ordered a Brunswick Willie Hoppe signature cue, and paid the
extra $$ to have his name flourished on.
Rambow could of made it. but he never did the actual signing anyway., his handwriting
was probably like mine.

I thought that Rambow and Willie had an agreement that they wouldn't get the
signature cues mixed up like that, so Herman could of made that one.
Paul Rubino should take a look at it, if he is still doing the authentications.

Also, it could of been made by Brunswick after 1950
Click to expand...



I don't pretend to know enough to ID Rambow cues, but I am very aware that many are called Rambow cues that are not. It does impress me more as a personalized Brunswick cue than a true Rambow.

In any case, I am more curious about potentially tracking down the ownership. Really fascinating stuff.

.
 
jaetee said:
The cue was found on the bottom shelf of a display case, behind the counter of a pawn shop in Palm Harbor, Florida.
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Wow.

Great find!

So...the trail ends in Florida.....


Edit: Just a thought, it looks odd in that Biagio case. It would be nice to find a period correct case for it. And some do collect Biagio so the case could be sold to help fund a more appropriate case.
 
Chopdoc said:
Wow.

Great find!

So...the trail ends in Florida.....


Edit: Just a thought, it looks odd in that Biagio case. It would be nice to find a period correct case for it. And some do collect Biagio so the case could be sold to help fund a more appropriate case.
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Honestly, I got goose bumps when I found this thing... I might have even heard angels singing! :)

Good idea about the case. Speaking of..., when I first saw it in the pawn shop and saw the purple case guts, it reminded me of the scene in The Color Of Money when Paul Newman goes to Vince's hotel room to ask for the 'Bushka and it is on display in the open case on top of the TV... But I think that case was purple on the outside IIRC.
 
Chopdoc said:
I don't pretend to know enough to ID Rambow cues, but I am very aware that many are called Rambow cues that are not. It does impress me more as a personalized Brunswick cue than a true Rambow.

In any case, I am more curious about potentially tracking down the ownership. Really fascinating stuff.

.
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Hey Doc, good to see you back.
Since you've been gone I've had 8-major procedures Including a back operation that went real bad.

Most of the Hoppe style cue's made by Rambow did not have any signatures.
There is a difference in quality control between a Willie Hoppe signature cue and a Rambow, even though they are both made from Titlist blanks.
The pin lengths are different, the butt cap, and the wrap on this cue looks like a Willie Hoppe sig cue.
The personalization means very little, and the authentication is important.
With all that said Rambow cues have not increased in value like I thought they would
 
cuesblues said:
Hey Doc, good to see you back.
Since you've been gone I've had 8-major procedures Including a back operation that went real bad.

Most of the Hoppe style cue's made by Rambow did not have any signatures.
There is a difference in quality control between a Willie Hoppe signature cue and a Rambow, even though they are both made from Titlist blanks.
The pin lengths are different, the butt cap, and the wrap on this cue looks like a Willie Hoppe sig cue.
The personalization means very little, and the authentication is important.
With all that said Rambow cues have not increased in value like I thought they would
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Thank you.


Yes, I have read about the differences, but I have zero personal experience with these cues.


Sorry to hear about your surgeries. I hope things are going better now.
 
Charles Kimmel did the calligraphy on these Brunswick cues. He wrote out scoreboards for the PGA beginning in 1931. He was also an accomplished pool player, won the Chicago billiards championship. He played against Mosconi in several exhibitions. He passed in 1990 at 88 years of age.

He worked inscribing cues as a option for people ordering and buying Brunswick cues. His inscription in no way assures the cue as Rambow made. This cue has none of those features. Even custom cues with the look of Rambow were abundant at the time from Brunswick. Rambow was a shop supervisor and had many apprentices. So unless a cue is clearly marked "Made by Rambow or verified by an expert , nobody can say their cue is Rambow made.
 
cueenvy said:
Charles Kimmel did the calligraphy on these Brunswick cues. He wrote out scoreboards for the PGA beginning in 1931. He was also an accomplished pool player, won the Chicago billiards championship. He played against Mosconi in several exhibitions. He passed in 1990 at 88 years of age.

He worked inscribing cues as a option for people ordering and buying Brunswick cues. His inscription in no way assures the cue as Rambow made. This cue has none of those features. Even custom cues with the look of Rambow were abundant at the time from Brunswick. Rambow was a shop supervisor and had many apprentices. So unless a cue is clearly marked "Made by Rambow or verified by an expert , nobody can say their cue is Rambow made.
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I truly appreciate all of that info. Who would be the foremost expert to ask? I've seen the names Dick Abbott and Paul Rubino here in the forum, and a gentleman named Deno Andrews in the Blue Book?

I'm curious how many cues were sold as Brunswick Professional 2-piece cues without some form of Brunswick sticker, or at least the diagonal "Willie Hoppe" signature on them? There is no evidence of either on this cue, yet there is the partial calligraphy that can be seen below the "B" which I've mentioned several times and nobody seems to want to acknowledge. Personally, I think it looks like the top of a decorative "R"

Regarding the comments about the pointy vs. rounded pin, the joint pin on this cue looks exactly like the one on the famous cue in the BB which Willie Mosconi had made for Jackie Gleason during filming of The Hustler. I think that's probably something that H.R. started doing later... Did he round those of himself, or is tis a result of him or Brunswick having supplied pins from different places over time???

I really do believe there is a fair chance this cue may have had "by Rambow" scribed on it in it's past...

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